A rather violent hashtag is trending on Twitter, and it surrounds one Pakistani woman’s possibly imminent execution. Asia Bibi is a Pakistani Christian woman who was sentenced to death in 2010 for blasphemy, having been accused of insulting the Prophet of Islam Muhammad during an argument. Still alive and in custody, news broke last week that Bibi’s case would be heard by Pakistan’s supreme court. Many men then began demanding her death with the hashtag #HangAasia, but some are fighting back in her defense on Twitter.
Many Pakistani tweeters are calling for Bibi’s death.
#HangAasia pic.twitter.com/zYnob7Fnwa
— غازی ممتاز قادری (@IAmMumtazQadri) October 10, 2016
#HANGAASIA
— Muhammad Junaid (@Junaid_Tahir77) October 11, 2016
Must Comment being a Muslim being a Pakistani pic.twitter.com/7JiXP6WTR5
However, as soon as the hashtag – which is still trending – began, some used it to defend her, slamming calls for her death.
^Hey @twitter @Support how is this horrific #HangAasia hashtag for so-called "blasphemy" in #Pakistan not considered incitement to murder?
— Radical (@MaajidNawaz) October 13, 2016
Other tweets used her case to launch attacks on Islam in general, and they weren’t nice.
Why the world will always see you as a backward nation & your religion full of hate #HangAasia
— no free ice creams (@mikimacm) October 13, 2016
In the latest developments surrounding the case, the supreme court has delayed Bibi’s appeal. But as Twitter shows, Pakistan’s legal system isn’t the only one who wants her dead.
AL
